[TheForge] welder woes

Fri Jan 3 11:56:04 2003

One welder I fixed was both dc and ac.  The bridge rectifiers had
shorted so that it drew bunches of current always.

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of DragonsWatch
Sent: Tuesday, December 31, 2002 8:52 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [TheForge] welder woes

Thanks for all the suggestions, some of them I had checked prior to
posting. Here are the results of the ones previously checked.

    Donn, looked for a relay I could get into, didn't see any.  I may
have to find the way into the front where the main AC/DC and current
switches are mounted.  This panel I have not opened yet.

    George, I did blow the dust out while hoping to find a short.  I did
not find any and removing the dust did not help.  Unfortunately, what I
did find was a lot of the shellac (which I fear may have been the only
insulation) was cracked and broke free blowing out with the dust.  I can
not believe this was a good thing.

    Steve, I did check the clearance around the fan, no problem, and it
seems to be running fine. The buzz is much louder that the little
cooling fan could make.

    Peter, Checking all connections I could get at from the back I did
not find any loose or heating.  I am sure that something is drawing too
much current as it pulls down the voltage in the entire shop.  This I
find odd as
the shop has its own service.   At any rate, I agree that there should
be
some heat showing up somewhere.

    Larry Brown suggested checking the feed circuit.  I was thinking
along that line also.  Though this is the same circuit I had been
feeding this machine with, there could be a problem in the receptacle or
plug.  I'll check these out this morning.  I will admit that I am
feeding it from a 30 amp breaker instead of the 50 it would rather have,
but I have welded with it already on this same breaker.  Besides, it
should not be drawing much current while idling, this is all happening
just as the machine is turned on.

Thanks again, I'll post the fix if I find the problem.

Larry

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